Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT persons. Although same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults in private was decriminalized in 1993,[1] homosexuals are viewed with contempt by most Russians, and same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are ineligible for the legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. There are currently no laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in Russia. Transgender people are allowed to change their legal gender following sex reassignment surgery, however, there are currently no laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression and recent laws could discriminate against transgender residents. Homosexuality has been declassified as a mental illness since 1999 and although gays and lesbians are legally allowed to serve openly in the military, there is a de facto "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Russia has been viewed as being socially conservative regarding homosexuality, with recent polls indicating that a majority of Russians are against the acceptance of homosexuality and have shown support for laws discriminating against homosexuals. About 40% support either isolation or mandatory commitment for them, while 5% support "liquidation".[4] Despite receiving international criticism for the recent increase in social discrimination, crimes, and violence against homosexuals, larger cities such as Moscow[5] and Saint Petersburg[6] have been said to have a thriving LGBT community. However, there has been a historic resistance to gay pride parades by local governments; despite being fined by the European Court of Human Rights in 2010 for interpreting it as discrimination, the city of Moscow denied 100 individual requests for permission to hold Moscow Pride through 2012, citing a risk of violence against participants.

Homosexuality was officially removed from the Russian list of mental illnesses in 1999 (after the endorsement of ICD-10).

As far as adoptions of children: Single persons living within Russia, regardless of their sexual orientation, can adopt children. Russian children can be adopted by a single homosexual who lives in a foreign country provided that country does not recognize same-sex marriage.[12] A couple can adopt children together, as a couple, only if they are a married heterosexual couple. For more information about the daily reality of same-sex couples with children in Russia, read this article.

Russian Constitution guarantees the right of peaceful association.[13] Nevertheless, organs of authority in Russia refuse to register LGBT organizations.[14][15][16][16][17][18]

Anti-gay sentiment in Russia: Public opinion in Russia tends to be hostile toward homosexuality and the level of intolerance has been rising.[19] A 2013 survey found that 74% of Russians said homosexuality should not be accepted by society (up from 60% in 2002), compared to 16% who said that homosexuality should be accepted by society.[20] In a 2007 survey, 68% of Russians said homosexuality is always wrong (54%) or almost always wrong (14%).[21] In a 2005 poll, 44% of Russians were in favor of making homosexual acts between consenting adults a criminal act;[22] at the same time, 43% of Russians supported a legal ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.[22] In 2013, 16% of Russians surveyed said that gay people should be isolated from society, 22% said they should be forced to undergo treatment, and 5% said homosexuals should be "liquidated".[4] In Russian psychiatry, Soviet mentality about homosexuality has endured into the present day.[23] For instance, in spite of the removal of homosexuality from the nomenclature of mental disorders, 62.5% of 450 surveyed psychiatrists in the Rostov Region view it as an illness, and up to three quarters view it as immoral behavior.[23] The psychiatrists sustain the objections to pride parades and the use of veiled schemes to lay off openly lesbian and gay persons from schools, child care centers, and other public institutions.[23] A Russian motorcycle club called the Night Wolves, which is closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin and which suggests "Death to faggots" as an alternate name for itself,[24] organized a large Anti-Maidan rally in February 2015 at which a popular slogan was "We don't need Western ideology and gay parades!"[25]

Restrictive legislation in Russia: In 2013, Russia amended its federal law on the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development.[note 3] This punished the promotion of 'non-traditional sexual relations' to minors with fines and administrative sanctions. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information and Mass Media issued guidelines explaining that this can include the positive portrayal or approval of people with 'non-traditional sexual relations' – namely LGBT people.[26] Among other repercussions, the law led to the closure of the Children 404 website – the only public source of counselling and support for LGBT children in the country.[27]

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed concern that, although intended to protect children, the law 'encourages the stigmatization of and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons, including children, and children from LGBTI families'. The Committee recommended that the law should be repealed.[28][27]

Same-sex marriage: Neither same-sex marriages nor civil unions of same-sex couples are allowed in Russia. In July 2013, Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, of which approximately 41% of Russians are adherents,[29] said that the idea of same-sex marriage was "a very dangerous sign of the Apocalypse".[30] At a 2011 press conference, the head of the Moscow Registry Office, Irina Muravyova, declared: "Attempts by same-sex couples to marry both in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia are doomed to fail. We live in a civil society, we are guided by the federal law, [and] by the Constitution that clearly says: marriage in Russia is between a man and a woman. Such a marriage [same-sex] cannot be contracted in Russia."[31] The vast majority of the Russian public are also against same-sex marriage.[22][32]

Military service: According to reporting in Pravda.ru, in the past some young Russians would claim they were gay as a pretense to avoid military service duty.[33] The Major-General of the Medical Service attempted to change that in 2003 when he announced that under a new statute, homosexuality would not be a justification for exclusion from military service: "The issue of a person's homosexuality is not medical. There is no such diagnosis as homosexuality in medicine. There is no such illness in the classification of [the] World Health Organization. The new statute about military and medical expertise follows international law practice. Therefore the reasons for evaluating the ability to serve for homosexuals are the same: physical and mental health".[33] However, he added that people of non-standard sexual orientation should not reveal their sexual orientation while serving in the army because "other soldiers are not going to like that, they can be beaten".[33] President Vladimir Putin said in a U.S. television interview in 2010 that openly gay men were not excluded from military service in Russia.[34] In 2013, it was reported that the Defense Ministry had issued a guideline on assessment of new recruits' mental health that recommends recruits be asked about their sexual history and be examined for certain types of tattoos, especially genital or buttocks tattoos, that would allegedly indicate a homosexual orientation.[34][35]

Gay pride events: There have been notable objections to the organization of gay pride parades[36] in several Russian cities, most prominently Moscow, where authorities have never approved a request to hold a gay pride rally.[37] Former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov supported the city's refusal to authorize the first two editions of Nikolay Alexeyev's Moscow Pride events, calling them as "satanic". The events still went on as planned, in defiance of their lack of authorization.[38][39] In 2010, Russia was fined by the European Court of Human Rights, ruling that, as alleged by Alexeyev, Russian cities were discriminating against gays by refusing to authorize pride parades.. Although authorities had claimed allowing pride events to be held would pose a risk of violence, the Court ruled that their decisions "effectively approved of and supported groups who had called for [their] disruption."[40] In August 2012, contravening the previous ruling, the Moscow City Court upheld a ruling blocking requests by the organizers of Moscow Pride for authorization to hold the parade yearly through 2112, citing the possibility of public disorder and a lack of support for such events by residents of Moscow.[41][42][43][44]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.(April 2017)

It has been reported that authorities in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya have been arresting and torturing men suspected to be gay. Over 100 men have been arrested and tortured in secret detention facilities that some human rights groups charge to be concentration camps. Prisoners are being starved, electroshocked, beaten, and sometimes beaten to death. Detainees are being held for ransom. Prisoners are being forced to reveal who else is gay. News reports are saying that at least three men have been killed,[when?] but the number killed may be as many as twenty. The Chechen authorities are denying this and are denying that LGBT people exist, saying, "You cannot arrest or repress people who just don't exist in the republic."[45][46][47][48]

Support for same-sex marriage in the Russian Federation (2013 poll)[49]

Against (85%)

For (5%)

Other (10%)

Russia has traditionally been socially conservative on LGBT rights, with 2013 polls indicating a large majority of Russians oppose legal recognition of same-sex marriage, and support for laws restricting the distribution of "propaganda" that promotes non-traditional sexual relationships.[50][51]

Anton Krasovsky, an HIV-positive television news anchor at government-run KontrTV, was immediately fired[52][53] from his job in January 2013 when he announced during a live broadcast that he is gay and disgusted by the national anti-gay "propaganda" legislation that had been proposed although had not yet passed.[30][54]

In September 2013, a Khabarovsk teacher and gay rights activist, Alexandr Yermoshkin, was fired from his two jobs as school teacher and university researcher.[55] A week earlier, he had been attacked by members of a local neo-nazi group "Shtolz Khabarovsk".[56] A homophobic activist group called "Movement against the propaganda of sexual perversions" had campaigned for his dismissal.[57]

The federal law banning LGBT propaganda among minors was passed unanimously by the Russian Duma; as the bill amended an existing child protection law, it is difficult to know whether or not all of the MPs, and their respective political parties, supported every aspect of the bill or not. A few political parties without members in the Duma have expressed some limited support for LGBT rights.

Yabloko is a member of the Liberal International, and has organized public demonstrations against intolerance under the banner of building a "Russia without pogroms."[58]

The Libertarian Party of Russia, formed in 2007, has objected to the government ban on "gay propaganda" as a violation of people's right to freedom of speech.[59]

In 2016, two openly gay men ran for seats in the Russian duma. While they admit that they probably will not win a seat, they were supported by a liberal coalition. They are also probably the first openly gay candidates to run for seats in the Russian parliament.[60]

Unlike in many western nations, LGBT persons in Russia are not protected by specific legal protections. Violent criminal acts carried out against these persons are prosecuted as criminal offenses under Russian law, but the fact that these crimes are motivated by the sexual orientation or gender identity of the victim is not considered an aggravating factor when the court determines the sentence. Among the more vicious crimes that would qualify as hate crimes outside of Russia and are reported in the press would include the following;

On 9 May 2013, after Victory Day parades in Volgograd, the body of a 23-year-old man was found tortured and murdered by three males who stated anti-homosexual motivations, even though family and friends state the victim had no behavior inclination.[63]

On 29 May 2013, the body of 38-year-old deputy director of Kamchatka airport Oleg Serdyuk (rus: Олег Сердюк) was found in his burned out car, having been beaten and stabbed the previous day.[64] Local authorities said the murder was motivated by homophobia.[65] Three suspects (who were local residents) were tried and sentenced to prison terms of 9 to 12 years.[66]

From October 2013 – February 2014, anti-gay attacks targeting the LGBT community in Moscow were reported at Russia's largest gay nightclub Central Station, including gunfire and gas attacks. Several attacks and victim responses were documented in an ABC News Nightline special "Moscow is Burning".[67][68] Several employees subsequently left the country.[69]

In Tsarist Russia, young women would sometimes pose as men or act like tomboys. This was often tolerated among the educated middle classes, with the assumption that such behavior was asexual and would stop when the girl married.[70] However, cross-dressing was widely seen as sexually immoral behavior, punishable by God promoted through the Church and later criminalized by the government.[70]

In Soviet Russia, sex reassignment surgeries were first tried during the 1920s[citation needed] but became prohibited until the 1960s. Later they were performed by Prof. Irina Golubeva, an endocrinologist, authorized by psychiatrist Prof. Aron Belkin, who was the strongest Soviet advocate for transgender people until his death in 2003.[70]

On 29 December 2014, Russia passed a road safety law, allowing the government to deny driver's licenses to people with several classes of mental disorders according to ICD-10.[71] Class "F60-69 Disorders of adult personality and behaviour" includes "F64 Transsexualism"[72] Russian and foreign critics perceived the law as a ban on transgender drivers: Yelena Masyuk questioned the relevance of a person's transgender identity in regards to their ability to drive.[73][74] On 14 January 2015, Russia's Health Ministry clarified the law, stating that it would only deny licenses to those with disorders that would impair their ability to drive safely, and explicitly stated that one's sexual orientation would not be considered a factor under the law, as it is not considered a psychiatric disorder.[75] The World Health Organization also stated that it planned to review its list of "sexual disorders" to account for modern developments.

Federal laws passed on 29 June 2013 ban the distribution of "propaganda" to minors which promotes "non-traditional sexual relationships".[76] Critics contend the law makes illegal holding any sort of public demonstration in favour of gay rights, speak in defence of LGBT rights, and distribute material related to LGBT culture, or to state that same-sex relationships are equal to heterosexual relationships.[77][78][79][80] Additionally the laws have received international condemnation from human rights campaigners, and media outlets that even display of LGBT symbols, such as the rainbow flag, have resulted in arrests, and incited homophobic violence, like is documented in the Channel 4 documentary Hunted which followed anti-gay groups as they lured young gay men into traps where they were humiliated, with the footage later posted online.[7]

In June 2013 the national parliament (the State Duma) unanimously adopted, and President Vladimir Putin signed,[81] a nationwide law banning distribution of materials promoting LGBT relationships among minors.[8][76][82][83][84] The law does not explicitly mention the word "homosexuality", but instead uses the euphemism "non-traditional sexual relationships".[8][85] Under the statute it is effectively illegal to perform any of the following in the presence of minors: hold gay pride events, speak in favor of gay rights, or say that gay relationships are equal to heterosexual relationships.[8][80][82][83][84]

The law subjects Russian citizens found guilty to fines of up to 5,000 rubles and public officials to fines of up to 50,000 rubles.[86] Organizations or businesses will be fined up to 1 million rubles and be forced to cease operations for up to 90 days. Foreigners may be arrested and detained for up to 15 days then deported, as well as fined up to 100,000 rubles. Russian citizens who have used the Internet or media to promote "non-traditional relations" will be fined up to 100,000 rubles.[8]

The statute amended a law that is said to protect children from pornography and other "harmful information".[81] One of the authors of the statute, Yelena Mizulina, who is the chair of the Duma's Committee on Family, Women, and Children and who has been described by some as a moral crusader,[87][88][89] told lawmakers as the bill was being considered, "Traditional sexual relations are relations between a man and a woman.... These relations need special protection".[80] Mizulina argued that a recent poll had shown 88% of the public were in support of the bill.[90]

Commenting on the bill prior to its passage, President Putin said, during a visit to Amsterdam in April 2013, "I want everyone to understand that in Russia there are no infringements on sexual minorities' rights. They're people, just like everyone else, and they enjoy full rights and freedoms".[85] He went on to say that he fully intended to sign the bill because the Russian people demanded it.[80] As he put it, "Can you imagine an organization promoting pedophilia in Russia? I think people in many Russian regions would have started to take up arms.... The same is true for sexual minorities: I can hardly imagine same-sex marriages being allowed in Chechnya. Can you imagine it? It would have resulted in human casualties."[80] Putin also mentioned that he was concerned about Russia's low birth-rate and that same-sex relationships do not produce children.[81]

Critics say that the statute is written so broadly that it is in effect a complete ban on the gay rights movement and any public expression of LGBT culture.[30][80][85]

In July 2013, four Dutch tourists were arrested for allegedly discussing gay rights with Russian youths. The four were arrested for allegedly spreading "propaganda of nontraditional relationships among the under-aged" after talking to teens at a camp in the northern city of Murmansk.[91]

In March 2018 the Russian authorities forbad the biggest gay website Gay.ru because of "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships".[92]

Some of Russia's biggest stars, including Dima Bilan, Philipp Kirkorov and Nikolay Baskov, voiced their opposition to the laws. Other stars such as Valeriya support the anti-gay laws.[94] In February 2012, the feminist protest band Pussy Riot put on a controversial performance within Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior to protest the Orthodox Church's political support of President Vladimir Putin, which included his stance on LGBT rights in Russia. Weeks after the performance, three members of the band were arrested and charged with "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred", which then sparked a global protest movement against the trio's arrest.[95]

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, responding to questions raised in the international community about the implications of the new law on the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi said the controversy over Russia's anti-gay propaganda law is an "invented problem" created by the Western media[96] and that the law does not discriminate against anyone.[97] He said that the law is intended to protect the right of children, whose young minds are still developing, from being exposed to propaganda about non-traditional sexual relationships, in the same way that children should be protected from messages promoting alcoholism and drug abuse.[97] He also said that the rights of all Olympic athletes, organisers, and visitors in Sochi would be respected. "An athlete of non-traditional sexual orientation isn't banned from coming to Sochi. But if he goes out into the streets and starts to propagandize, then of course he will be held accountable".[98]

The screenplay writer, Yuri Arabov, who was working on a new biopic of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (never released), claimed that "it is far from a fact that Tchaikovsky was a homosexual," this is held in tension with the majority of scholars that acknowledge Tchaikovsky was definitely homosexual.[99] He further added that he would "not sign my name to a film that advertises homosexuality".[99] The film had been given Russian government funding, and Arabov's claim was reinforced by Russia's culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky, who when questioned on the issue claimed: "Arabov is actually right – there is no evidence that Tchaikovsky was a homosexual."[100] Scholars have pointed out that Tchaikovsky's homosexuality is in fact extensively documented in the composer's personal papers and correspondence.[100][101] There has been speculation in the Western press that the removal of all evidence of Tchaikovsky's homosexuality in the film – promoted by its director Kirill Serebrennikov as "the true story of the tragic love and death of the brilliant Russian composer" - was in response to Russia's anti-gay propaganda law.[99][100][101][102][note 6] Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva described the passing of the law as "a step toward the Middle Ages."[8]

On 12 October 2013 a demonstration was organised by 15 to 20 LGBT rights activists in Russia's second largest city Saint Petersburg against the new law banning "homosexual propaganda" on the day after the National Coming Out Day.[104][105] The demonstration was blocked by far-right groups, such as radical Orthodox Christians, Cossack paramilitaries and nationalists.[106] After a fight broke out between the groups, the police arrested 67 people from the two opposing groups.[106]

Political parties in Russia have generally been reluctant to oppose this or other discriminatory policies against the LGBT community due to prevailing public opinion and the fact that the current laws effectively criminalize public support for LGBT-rights. Only a handful of small political parties have expressed any support for LGBT-rights.

The Libertarian Party of Russia sees the ban on "promoting" homosexuality as a violation of the right to the freedom of speech and expression.

Activists painted the pedestrian pavement in front of the Russian Embassy in Finland with rainbow colors to protest Russian's anti-LGBT sentimentality and legislation. Similar activism has been done in Sweden.

International human rights organisations and the governments of developed democracies around the world have strongly condemned this Russian law.[107][108][109][110] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned this Russian statute and another similar one in Moldova (which was later repealed) as discriminatory and has made clear that the Russian statute in question is a violation of international human rights law, including the right of gay children to receive proper information.[111][112][113][114][115] The European Parliament has condemned Russia for homophobic discrimination and censorship[116] and the Council of Europe has called on Russia to protect LGBT rights properly.[117] The European Court of Human Rights had previously fined Russia for other infringements of LGBT rights.[118] In 2012 the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that a similar statute in the Russia's Ryazan Region was discriminatory, infringed on freedom of expression, and was inadmissible under international law—a Russian court in Ryazan later agreed and struck it down.[119][120] Some members of the gay community commenced a boycott of Russian goods, particularly Russian vodka.[121] Notable individuals have also responded to that ban.

Many Western celebrities and activists are openly opposed to the law and have encouraged a boycott of Russian products—notably Russian vodka—as well as a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, which were scheduled to be held in Sochi, unless the Games were relocated out of Russia.[122][123][124][125] The boycott against Stolichnaya vodka was called off after the owners publicly explained they were not a Russian company after all, were supporters of the LGBT community, and were opposed to the anti-gay laws. Also a game to dress up Putin as a gay man was released during Sochi's Olympics to support the LGBT community and reached more than 500,000 players.[126][127] Tying into the international spotlight of the February 2014 Olympic games, months of protests took place before the Games, with many campaigns targeted at the worldwide Olympic sponsors.

United States President Barack Obama said that while he did not favour boycotting the Sochi Olympics over the law, "Nobody's more offended than me about some of the anti-gay and lesbian legislation that you've been seeing in Russia".[128] Obama subsequently, in September 2013, met with Russian gay rights activists during a visit to St. Petersburg to attend a meeting of the G-20 nations' leaders. Obama said that he was proud of the work the activists were doing. His aides had said that Obama's opposition to the anti-gay propaganda law was one reason Obama had canceled a meeting previously planned to have been held with Russian President Putin during the trip.[128]

In 2013, pop singer Madonna, during a concert in St. Petersburg, denounced a newly enacted local law banning homosexual "propaganda". She told the audience, "I am here to say that the gay community and gay people here and all around the world have the same rights – to be treated with dignity, with respect, with tolerance, with compassion, with love".[133] In a Facebook posting, she had called the law a "ridiculous atrocity".[134] Conservative groups filed a lawsuit against her seeking the equivalent of nearly $11 million, arguing that her performance would hurt Russia's birthrate and, as a result, the nation's ability to adequately maintain its army.[133] One of the claimants said at the trial that although Madonna had "brutally violated" the city's laws, the precedent of the lawsuit would ensure that in the future "any artist coming to our city will know now what laws exist".[133] The day the case was heard, a member of the Russian parliament said that the singer Lady Gaga, who was due to perform in St. Petersburg the following month, should be banned from performing the song "Born This Way" during her Born This Way concert tour stop in Russia.[135] The case against Madonna was dismissed by the presiding judge.[135][136]

British actress Tilda Swinton tweeted a picture of herself with a rainbow flag with Moscow in background, adding in comment: "In solidarity. From Russia with love".[137]

American singer Lady Gaga condemned the Russian government for its increasingly anti-gay policies in August 2013.[139] One of the sponsors of the St. Petersburg municipal law against homosexual propaganda requested that Lady Gaga and Madonna both be investigated to see whether either had violated immigration or tax laws during their 2012 concerts in St Petersburg.[139]

In December 2013, Elton John told fans at a Moscow concert that the laws were "inhumane and isolating" and he was "deeply saddened and shocked over the current legislation."[140] In a January 2014 interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of Elton John in an attempt to show that there was no gay discrimination in Russia, stating; "Elton John – he's an extraordinary person, a distinguished musician, and millions of our people sincerely love him, regardless of his sexual orientation."[141] Elton responded by offering to introduce the President to Russians abused under Russian legislation banning "homosexual propaganda".[141]

In 1936 the world attended the Olympics in Germany. Few participants said a word about Hitler's campaign against the Jews. Supporters of that decision point proudly to the triumph of Jesse Owens, while I point with dread to the Holocaust and world war. There is a price for tolerating intolerance.[144]

English actor Wentworth Miller announced he would boycott the St. Petersburg International Film Festival.[145]

On 7 February 2014, American new wave band Blondie posted a picture on the social media websites Twitter and Facebook of an offer to perform live at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi with the words "Pass. Human rights" written on top of it in black ink.[147][148] Lead singer Debbie Harry later commented on this saying she wouldn't "feel good participating in a situation where biases and prejudices are paramount."[149]

New Zealand Olympic speedskaterBlake Skjellerup announced his intention of wearing a rainbow-coloured gay-pride pin from the 2012 Olympic Games when he competes at the 2014 Games in Sochi.[155] Skjellerup said that he does not support a boycott of the Sochi Olympics because he and other athletes have worked so hard to compete at the Games. However, he said strongly opposes the anti-gay propaganda law: "I don't think anybody should be persecuted".[155]

American basketball player John Amaechi said that the Winter Olympics "shouldn't even be in Russia" but a boycott of the Games isn't practical as it would hurt the athletes.[156]

On 21 August 2013 Dagbladet reported that the painting over of pedestrian crossing markings near Russia's embassy in Oslo—in the rainbow colors—was a "mild" protest.[157] Furthermore, the same form of protest appeared in Stockholm earlier in the same month and in Helsinki during September.[158][159]

In September 2013, same-sex "kiss-in's" were held in 50 cities worldwide in protest against Russia's anti-gay laws.[160]

Legal since 1993. In Chechnya, vigilante executions are tolerated,[161] as well as torture and abduction.[162] In Chechnya, punishments up to torture and death where homosexuals are abducted and sent to concentration camps based on their perceived sexual orientation. See Gay concentration camps in Chechnya for more information.

^ abcThe Federal Law On Acts of Civil Status (1997) provides for the possibility to rectify acts of civil status based on the document confirming sex transformation issued by a health institution (art.70). Also, transgender people can change their passport on the grounds of sex transformation. See the Administrative Legislation section of the Russian LGBT Network 2009 Report.

^ abAdoption is regulated by the Civil Procedure Code of Russia (Chapter 29); Family Code of Russia (Chapter 19); Federal Law On Acts of Civil Status (Chapter V). None of these documents contain any direct restriction or ban for homosexual people to adopt, though unmarried couples are not allowed to adopt children (Article 127.2 of the Family Code of Russia), and since same-sex marriage is not officially recognized, gay couples cannot adopt children together; nevertheless, single individuals can adopt (see also the Parent Relations section of the Russian LGBT Network 2009 Report). The Court makes the decision to allow or deny adoption considering many documents and testimonies, so it is unclear whether LGBT affiliation of the candidate adopter can be in fact an issue for a judge to make a negative decision.

^Federal Law of 29 June 2013: 'On the introduction of amendments to Article 5 of the Federal Law', 'On the protection of children from information liable to be injurious to their health and development' and individual legislative documents of the Russian Federation aimed at protecting children from information promoting the denial of traditional family values (no. 135-FZ).

^Bashkortostan is the only region where the law does not include any kind of administrative sanctions or fines.

^Kaliningrad Oblast's measure bans "propaganda of homosexualism" not only among minors, but among the population in general.

^The Guardian reported that, late in 2012, the director Kirill Serebrennikov had admitted to the cinema website KinoPoisk that he was having trouble finding funding due to officials' concerns about the composer's homosexuality.[103]

^The age of consent for homosexual acts was never specifically mentioned in the old Criminal Code of RSFSR, which was replaced with the new Criminal Code of Russia in 1996, and this new Code mentions the age of consent regardless of sexual orientation (although harsher penalties applies in case of an illicit same-sexual intercourse with a person younger than 16) in Article 134.[163]

^ abcШкель, Тамара (13 June 2013). Закон под "браво!. Rossiyskaya Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013. (translation) .. It is now possible to impose a fine of 50 to 100 thousand rubles for gay propaganda on the Internet.

1.
Russia
–
Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians

2.
Pride parade
–
Pride parades for the LGBT community are events celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender culture and pride. The events also at times serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage, most pride events occur annually, and many take place around June to commemorate the Stonewall riots, a pivotal moment in modern LGBT social movements. The date was chosen because the Stonewall events began on the last Saturday of June, subsequent Chicago parades have been held on the last Sunday of June, coinciding with the date of many similar parades elsewhere. On the West Coast of the United States held a march in Los Angeles on June 28,1970, in Los Angeles, Morris Kight, Reverend Troy Perry and Reverend Bob Humphries gathered to plan a commemoration. They settled on a parade down Hollywood Boulevard, but securing a permit from the city was no easy task. They named their organization Christopher Street West, as ambiguous as we could be, grudgingly, the Police Commission granted the permit, though there were fees exceeding $1.5 million. After the American Civil Liberties Union stepped in, the commission dropped all its requirements and that, too, was dismissed when the California Superior Court ordered the police to provide protection as they would for any other group. The eleventh hour California Supreme Court decision ordered the police commissioner to issue a parade permit citing the “constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression. ”From the beginning, L. A. parade organizers, Kight received death threats right up to the morning of the parade. Unlike what we see today, the first gay parade was very quiet, the marchers convened on McCadden Place in Hollywood, marched north and turned east onto Hollywood Boulevard. The Advocate reported Over 1,000 homosexuals and their friends staged, not just a protest march, but a full blown parade down world-famous Hollywood Boulevard. Later that same day in New York gay activist groups held their own pride parade, known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day, No dress or age regulations shall be made for this demonstration. We also propose that we contact Homophile organizations throughout the country and we propose a nationwide show of support. All attendees to the ERCHO meeting in Philadelphia voted for the march except for Mattachine Society of New York City, members of the Gay Liberation Front attended the meeting and were seated as guests of Rodwells group, Homophile Youth Movement in Neighborhoods. Meetings to organize the march began in early January at Rodwells apartment in 350 Bleecker Street, at first there was difficulty getting some of the major New York organizations like Gay Activists Alliance to send representatives. Craig Rodwell and his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, Michael Brown, Marty Nixon, Other mainstays of the organizing committee were Judy Miller, Jack Waluska, Steve Gerrie and Brenda Howard of GLF. With Dick Leitschs replacement as president of Mattachine NY by Michael Kotis in April 1970, Brenda Howard is known as the Mother of Pride, for her work in coordinating the march. Howard also originated the idea for a series of events around Pride Day which became the genesis of the annual LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world every June. Additionally, Howard along with fellow LGBT Activists Robert A. Martin, as more cities and even smaller towns began holding their own celebrations, these names spread

3.
European Court of Human Rights
–
The European Court of Human Rights is a supra-national or international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights. It hears applications alleging that a state has breached one or more of the human rights provisions concerning civil and political rights set out in the Convention. An application can be lodged by an individual, a group of individuals or one or more of the contracting states, and, besides judgments. The Convention was adopted within the context of the Council of Europe, the Court is based in Strasbourg, France. The jurisdiction of the Court has been recognised to date by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe. In 1998, the Court became an institution and the European Commission of Human Rights. The accession of new states to the European Convention on Human Rights following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 led to a increase in applications filed in the Court. The efficiency of the Court was threatened seriously by the number of pending applications. In 19998,400 applications were allocated to be heard, in 200327,200 cases were filed and the number of pending applications rose to approximately 65,000. In 2005, the Court opened 45,500 case files, in 200957,200 applications were allocated, with the number of pending applications rose to 119,300. Protocol 14 entered into force on 1 June 2010, three months after it was ratified by all 47 contracting states to the Convention, between 2006 and 2010, Russia was the only contracting state to refuse to ratify Protocol 14. In 2010, Russia ended its opposition to the protocol, in exchange for a guarantee that Russian judges would be involved in reviewing complaints against Russia. Protocol 14 amended the Convention so that judges would be elected for a term of nine years. Amendments were also made so that a judge could reject plainly inadmissible applications. In cases of doubt, the single judge refers the applications to the Committee of the Court, a single judge may not examine applications against the state which nominated him. The three judge committee has jurisdiction to declare applications admissible and decide on the merits of the if it was clearly well founded and based on well established case law. Protocol 14 also provides that when a three judge committee decides on the merits of a case, the elected to represent that state is no longer a compulsory member of this committee. The judge can be invited by the committee, to one of its members

4.
Violence
–
This definition involves intentionality with the committing of the act itself, irrespective of the outcome it produces. However, generally, anything that is excited in an injurious or damaging way may be described as violent even if not meant to be violence. Globally, violence resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.28 million people in 2013 up from 1.13 million in 1990. Of the deaths in 2013, roughly 842,000 were attributed to self-harm,405,000 to interpersonal violence, in Africa, out of every 100,000 people, each year an estimated 60.9 die a violent death. Corlin, past president of the American Medical Association said, The United States leads the world—in the rate at which its children die from firearms and he concluded, Gun violence is a threat to the public health of our country. For each single death due to violence, there are dozens of hospitalizations, hundreds of emergency department visits, furthermore, violence often has lifelong consequences for physical and mental health and social functioning and can slow economic and social development. In 2013, assault by firearm was the cause of death due to interpersonal violence. The same year, assault by sharp object resulted in roughly 114,000 deaths, Violence in many forms is preventable. Strategies addressing the causes of violence can be effective in preventing violence. These three broad categories are divided further to reflect more specific types of violence. Violence is primarily classified as either instrumental or reactive / hostile, self-directed violence is subdivided into suicidal behaviour and self-abuse. The former includes suicidal thoughts, attempted suicides – also called para suicide or deliberate self-injury in some countries –, self-abuse, in contrast, includes acts such as self-mutilation. Collective violence is subdivided into structural violence and economic violence, unlike the other two broad categories, the subcategories of collective violence suggest possible motives for violence committed by larger groups of individuals or by states. Collective violence that is committed to advance a particular social agenda includes, for example, crimes of hate committed by organized groups, terrorist acts, political violence includes war and related violent conflicts, state violence and similar acts carried out by larger groups. Clearly, acts committed by larger groups can have multiple motives, however, in both research and practice, the dividing lines between the different types of violence are not always so clear. It is the most extreme form of collective violence and we know also ideological, religious and revolutionary wars. Since the Industrial Revolution, the lethality of modern warfare has grown, World War I casualties were over 40 million and World War II casualties were over 70 million. Violence includes those acts that result from a relationship, including threats and intimidation

5.
Human rights
–
Human rights are moral principles or norms, which describe certain standards of human behaviour, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. They are applicable everywhere and at time in the sense of being universal. They require empathy and the rule of law and impose an obligation on persons to respect the rights of others. They should not be taken away except as a result of due process based on circumstances, for example, human rights may include freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture. The doctrine of human rights has been influential within international law. Actions by states and non-governmental organizations form a basis of public policy worldwide, the idea of human rights suggests that if the public discourse of peacetime global society can be said to have a common moral language, it is that of human rights. The strong claims made by the doctrine of human rights continue to provoke considerable skepticism and debates about the content, nature, ancient peoples did not have the same modern-day conception of universal human rights. Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the family is the foundation of freedom. All human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights. According to Jack Donnelly, in the ancient world, traditional societies typically have had elaborate systems of duties, conceptions of justice, political legitimacy, and human flourishing that sought to realize human dignity, flourishing, or well-being entirely independent of human rights. These institutions and practices are alternative to, rather than different formulations of, one theory is that human rights were developed during the early Modern period, alongside the European secularization of Judeo-Christian ethics. The most commonly held view is that the concept of human rights evolved in the West, for example, McIntyre argues there is no word for right in any language before 1400. One of the oldest records of rights is the statute of Kalisz, giving privileges to the Jewish minority in the Kingdom of Poland such as protection from discrimination. Samuel Moyn suggests that the concept of rights is intertwined with the modern sense of citizenship. The earliest conceptualization of human rights is credited to ideas about natural rights emanating from natural law, in particular, the issue of universal rights was introduced by the examination of extending rights to indigenous peoples by Spanish clerics, such as Francisco de Vitoria and Bartolomé de Las Casas. In Britain in 1689, the English Bill of Rights and the Scottish Claim of Right each made illegal a range of oppressive governmental actions, additionally, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 encoded into law a number of fundamental civil rights and civil freedoms. These were followed by developments in philosophy of human rights by philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, hegel during the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the term had been used by at least one author as early as 1742, in the 19th century, human rights became a central concern over the issue of slavery

6.
Middle Ages
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period

7.
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
–
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Russia. The party is viewed as the immediate successor of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It is the second largest political party in the Russian Federation, the youth organisation of the party is the Leninist Young Communist League. The party is administered by the Central Committee, as of 2015, the party has 570,000 members. The partys stated goal is to establish a new, modernised form of socialism in Russia, Zyuganov had been a harsh critic of Alexander Yakovlev, the so-called godfather of glasnost, on the CPSU Central Committee. In order to oppose Yeltsin, Zyuganov organized a popular-patriotic bloc of nationalist organizations to support his candidacy and it went on to support Zyuganov in the 2000 presidential election. The NPSR was meant to form the basis of a two-party system, the party suffered a sharp decline in the 2003 legislative election, going from 113 seats to 52. Zyuganov called the 2003 elections a revolting spectacle, and accused the Kremlin of setting up a Potemkin party, Rodina, the CPRF was endorsed by Sergey Baburins Peoples Union for the 2007 Russian parliamentary elections. The party played only a role in the protests. Party rallies on December 18,2011 in protest of election irregularities in Moscow and Saint Petersburg were attended by only a few thousand, mostly elderly, the party has also recently called for Russia to formally recognize Donetsk Peoples Republic and the Luhansk Peoples Republic. The partys current program was adopted in 2008, where the CPRF declared that it is the political organization that consistently upholds the rights of the workers. According to the program, the goal of the party is to build in Russia a renewed socialism, socialism of the 21st century. The program of the Communist Party declared that the party is guided by Marxism–Leninism, based on the experience and achievements of domestic and world science, according to its program, the CPRF considers it necessary to reform the country in three phases. In the first phase, it is needed to achieve power through representation by a coalition led by the CPRF. In this case, however, small producers will remain, and, moreover, will be organized to protect them from robbery by big business, bureaucrats and it is planned to reform the management of enterprises through the creation of councils at various levels. The party also plans to transform Russia into a Soviet republic, in the second stage the role of councils and trade unions will increase even more. The economy will be made a transition to a socialist form of economic activity, however. Finally, the phase is to build socialism

8.
United Nations Human Rights Council
–
The United Nations Human Rights Council is a United Nations System inter-governmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world. Its 47 seats are filled by member states elected for three-year terms, the UNHRC is the successor to the UN Commission on Human Rights, and is a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly. The council works closely with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UNHRC addresses human rights-related situations in all UN member states. The United States boycotted the Council during the George W. Bush administration, beginning in 2009 however, with the United States taking a leading role in the organization, American commentators began to argue that the UNHRC was becoming increasingly relevant. The UN General Assembly elects the members who occupy the UNHRCs 47 seats, the General Assembly takes into account the candidate States’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as their voluntary pledges and commitments in this regard. The term of each seat is three years, and no member may occupy a seat for more than two consecutive terms, the resolution establishing the UNHRC states that members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights. On 18 June 2007, one year after holding its first meeting, the UNHRC adopted its Institution-building package, among the elements was the Universal Periodic Review. The Universal Periodic Review assesses the human rights situations in all 193 UN Member States, a further element is a Complaint procedure, which allows individuals and organizations to bring complaints about human rights violations to the attention of the Council. The members of the General Assembly elect the members who occupy the UNHRCs 47 seats, the term of each seat is three years, and no member may occupy a seat for more than two consecutive terms. The previous CHR had a membership of 53 elected by the Economic and Social Council through a majority of those present, the suspension process requires a two-thirds majority vote by the General Assembly. The UNHRC holds regular sessions three times a year, in March, June, and September, the UNHRC can decide at any time to hold a special session to address human rights violations and emergencies, at the request of one-third of the member states. To date there have been 20 Special Sessions, Members of the UNHRC are elected to staggered three-year terms. Current Previous The first election of members was held on 9 May 2006 and their terms of office began on 19 June 2006. On 19 May, it was announced that Mexico would serve as the Councils chair during its first year of existence. 2010 Group The replacement for the 2007 Group was duly elected by the General Assembly on 17 May 2007, known as the 2010 Group, in this election, Angola and Egypt were elected to the council, whereas Belarus was rejected. 2011 Group, The replacement for the 2008 Group was duly elected by the General Assembly on 21 May 2008, known as the 2011 Group, the year when their terms expire. 2012 Group, The replacement for the 2009 Group was duly elected by the General Assembly on 12 May 2009, known as the 2012 Group, the year when their terms expire. 2013 Group, The replacement for the 2010 Group was duly elected by the General Assembly on 13 May 2010, known as the 2013 Group, the year when their terms expire

9.
Moscow
–
Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality

10.
Saint Petersburg
–
Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life

11.
State Duma
–
The State Duma in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters are located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square and its members are referred to as deputies. The State Duma was introduced in 1906 and was Russias first elected parliament, the first two attempts by Tsar Nicholas II to make it active were ineffective. Subsequently, each of these Dumas was dissolved only a few months. The third Duma was the one to last to the end of its 5-year term. After the 1907 electoral reform, the third Duma, elected in November 1907, was made up of members of the upper classes. The establishment of the Duma after the 1905 Revolution was to herald significant changes to the Russian autocratic system, in the December 1993 elections pro-Yeltsin parties won 175 seats in the Duma versus 125 seats for the left bloc. The balance of power lay with the sixty four deputies of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, only parties that won more than five percent of the vote were given party-list seats, eight passed the threshold in 1993. In addition to eight parties, a pool of thirty five deputies was entitled to form a registered group to reflect regional or sectoral interests. Business was governed by a committee, the Duma Council. The most important task was dividing up the positions in the Duma’s twenty three committees, which was done as part of a power-sharing package deal. During the second half of the 1990s the Duma became an important forum for lobbying by regional leaders and businessmen looking for tax breaks and legislative favors. The work of the committees, such as those for defense, foreign affairs, or budget, attracted a good deal of media attention. In the early 2000s, following the 1999 parliamentary elections, the pro-presidential Unity party, a 2016 exposé by Dissernet showed that 1 in 9 members of the State Duma had obtained academic degrees with theses that were substantially plagiarized and likely ghostwritten. The State Duma has special powers enumerated by the Constitution of Russia, decrees of the State Duma are adopted by a majority of the total number of deputies of the State Duma, unless another procedure is envisaged by the Constitution. All bills are first approved by the State Duma and are debated and approved by the Federation Council. Relatively few roll call votes have been published that identify individual deputies votes, the votes of individuals are recorded only if the voting is open and the electronic method is used. While not all votes are officially roll call votes, every time a deputy electronically votes a computer registers the individual deputys vote, the State Duma forms committees and commissions

12.
Hate crime
–
A hate crime is a prejudice-motivated crime, which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group. Examples of such groups can include and are almost exclusively limited to, sex, ethnicity, disability, language, nationality, physical appearance, religion, non-criminal actions that are motivated by these reasons are often called bias incidents. Hate crime generally refers to acts which are seen to have been motivated by bias against one or more of the types above. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, a hate crime law is a law intended to deter bias-motivated violence. Hate speech laws exist in many countries, the term hate crime came into common usage in the United States during the 1980s, but the term is often used retrospectively in order to describe events which occurred prior to that era. From the Roman persecution of Christians to the Nazi slaughter of Jews, during the past two centuries, typical examples of hate crimes in the U. S. The verb to lynch is attributed to the actions of Charles Lynch, originally the term referred to extrajudicial organized but unauthorized punishment of criminals. It later evolved to describe execution outside of ordinary justice and it is highly associated with white suppression of African Americans in the South, and periods of weak or nonexistent police authority, as in certain frontier areas of the Old West. The murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom and the Wichita Massacre were not classified as crimes by U. S. investigative officials or the media. In the early 21st century, conservative commentators David Horowitz, Michelle Malkin and this is believed to be based on the history of African slavery in this country. One of the largest waves of hate crimes took place during the Civil Rights Movement, during the 1950s and 1960s, both violence and threats were common against African Americans, and hundreds of lives were taken due to such acts. Members of this social class faced violence from groups such as the Ku Klux Klan as well as violence from individuals who were committed to segregation. African Americans have been the target of hate crimes since the Civil War, other frequently reported bias motivations were bias against a religion, against a particular sexual orientation, and against an ethnicity/national origin. At times, these bias motivations overlap, as violence can be both anti-gay and anti-black, for example, analysts have compared groups in terms of the per capita rate of hate crimes committed against them, to allow for differing populations. Overall, the number of hate crimes committed since the first hate crime bill was passed in 1997 is 86,582. Among the groups mentioned in the Hate Crimes Statistics Act. During the Civil Rights Movement, some of the most notorious hate crimes included the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, such acts began to take place more frequently after the racial integration of many schools and public facilities. High-profile murders targeting victims based on their sexual orientation have prompted the passage of hate crimes legislation, notably the cases of Sean W. Kennedy, kennedys murder was mentioned by Senator Gordon Smith in a speech on the floor of the US Senate while he advocated such legislation